News Analysis: Penny Tax Best Option for Fixing Roads

Greg Wilson/Anderson Observer

Corrected to reflect road repairs of poor roads cost $1 million per mile.

On Tuesday, Anderson County Council is expected to give final approval to ask voters to decide the future of the county’s 1,534 roads. It’s an issue that has needed addressing for decades.

Without exception, every county council member and the county administrator get more calls and complaints about roads than any other issue. Nothing else is even close.

It’s also an issue that can be confusing. Some roads are maintained by the state, the interstate miles (Anderson County has the longest stretch of I-85) by the federal government and the rest by the county or municipalities. This link provides ownership information on any given road. hNps://www.scdot.org/travel/travel-mappinggis.aspx

Funding well-built roads has been a challenge for well over a century. The South Carolina Good Roads Association was among the first groups to advocate professionally built and maintained roads, a state highway commission, and a powerful state highway department.

The public, meanwhile, was slow to accept these innovations. The SCGRA had strong Des to other state and regional good-roads organizations, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Bureau of Public Roads (founded in 1893), American Automobile Association (founded in 1902), American Association for Highway Improvement (1910–1917), and the American Association of State Highway Officials (founded in 1914).

A federal aid program to pave and maintain state and secondary roads began in 1916, a time when South Carolina had fewer than 25 miles of paved roads, but was underfunded from the beginning.

Since the days of the county roads commissioners – who essentially served as county leadership before Home Rule was adopted in 1976 – the state of the county’s road system has lacked proper funding for repair and maintenance.

Beginning in the late 1930s South Carolina began to add “farm-t0- market” to the state’s highway system. By the late 1950s there were more than 5,000 miles of such secondary roads with this designation, and the miles continued to grow.

World War 2 brought the economic and population booms fueled by unprecedented growth, and the demand for roads grew. Every mill wanted more roads to its site, and many farmers also used what political clout they could muster to get roads paved that were little more than pig paths with no legitimate public traffic

Even then the roads were expensive to repair and maintain, and local road commissioners and legislators did all they could to transfer the financial burden of these roads by transferring as many as they could into the state road system.

Such a paving frenzy has led to South Carolina, despite its size, having more than 62,000 paved roads today. With 41,500 miles of state roads, and 862 interstate highways, that leaves roughly 19,138 miles of locally maintained roads.

Meanwhile the state continued to raise standards for roads, with both safety and longevity of the roads in mind.

In 2013 the law changed, allowing the state to give back roads determined of “low traffic importance" as long as the counties, other agencies or private entities or persons receiving them consented.

Meanwhile, the federal aid programs which once provided annual funding to pave up to 50 miles of roads, now provides only enough to pave about one mile of county roads.

The combination of rapid growth and too many roads which should have never been paved has left a big economic pothole in Anderson County, one which is getting deeper every year.

The cost to repair/repave a road today is roughly $1 million per mile.
Funding for the county’s deteriorating roads and bridges, is far short of what is needed to smooth out the 1,535 miles of county roads in Anderson or the 163 bridges for which the county is responsible.

Progress has been made, and the Assistant Anderson County Administrator Holt Hopkins and Roads and Bridges Department Manager Matt Hogan and the county road crews are paving as many roads as funds permit. But the current level of funding remains so far behind as the needs and continue to grow to find a sustainable source of revenue for maintaining our roads and bridges.

Keep in mind, the S.C. gas tax funds are not for county roads and bridges, other than a small amount of funding from “C” funds.

Again, it’s nothing new, and that has created the problem. Road maintenance is so expensive no council has found a way, or been willing to increase taxes every year, to fund it.

Currently the county is in patch-and-save mode, since funding is limited. And sadly, a sustainable funding source for our roads and bridges is not in sight. County council has pieced together a variety of temporary funding sources and grants, but years of neglect requires more than some paving and putting band aids on many of our pocked, crumbling roads.

And the problem is exacerbated by growth. The population of the county has nearly doubled since 1970, and has grown by nearly 35,000 since 2000. The 2020 Census preliminary numbers suggest the population now tops 210,000, and that seems slight. All the while the county continues to add new manufacturing concerns, which invested more than $100 million in the county in 2023. Transportation is a key ingredient to both the operations of these businesses as well as future economic recruitment.

Growth has created an accelerated demand for services, but an increase in taxes and fees have not kept pace with the population growth to provide for the growing population. The county’s base millage rate remains among the lowest in the state. But even if council increased tax to the maximum level allowed by state law, it would fall far short of the funding needed for roads.

When the county council meets Tuesday night, it will hold a third- reading vote on a referendum to help pave the way for the future of Anderson County. The referendum calls for a penny sales tax on all goods purchased in Anderson County.

Currently 42 the state's 46 counties have a similar tax or fee structure to fund roadwork. Nearby Spartanburg has a penny sales tax, while in Horry County every vehicle faces a $50 annual fee. And the statewide average for counties with vehicle fees is roughly $24 per year per vehicle.

Fees, however, put the entire burden on local citizens, who are responsible for less than 60 percent of traffic using Anderson County roads. A sales tax would be paid by anyone driving through or visiDng the county who uses the county’s roads, thus spreading the burden more equitably.

I have spoken to leadership in almost all of Anderson’s charitable organizations, and most agreed that even the working poor and those on fixed incomes could absorb the one-penny tax if it meant better roads. Those who argue it is too much for those on fixed incomes might do well to check the math. The new tax would a $1 in taxes to a $100 purchase, 10 cents to a $10 purchase, and one cent on a $1 purchase.

A number of national studies suggests that well-maintained roads more than offset the cost of vehicle fees in savings on tires, alignments and other mechanical repairs caused by poor roads. Improperly maintained roads are also to blame for injuries and deaths in vehicle accidents on the road each year.

Anderson County has done its homework on the issue. The county is currently digesting data gathered by a specially equipped vehicle which traveled every mile of county roads and collected data that is being used to evaluate the condition and needs of every road.

On Tuesday council is expected to approve moving ahead with the referendum, which will be on the ballot in November. They have earned positive marks for keeping the wording on the ballot clear and simple.

There are two questions, one for the referendum itself, and one to approve general obligation bonds which will allow the county to immediately begin work on saving roads still salvageable. This is essential, since many roads are near the point of being unsalvageable and costs are climbing every year on the price of materials and labor.

The first reads:

Question 1: “I approve a special sales and use tax in the amount of one percent to be imposed in Anderson County, South Carolina for not more than seven years to fund the following project or projects: Project (1) For improvements to highways, roads (paved and unpaved), streets, intersections, and bridges within Anderson County, South Carolina,

including related drainage system improvements. $366,000,000” Yes ___ No ___

The second reads:

Question 2 “I approve the issuance of not exceeding $15,000,000 of general obligation bonds of Anderson County payable from the special sales and use tax described in Question 1 above, maturing over a period not to exceed seven years, to fund a portion of the projects described in Question 1 above.” Yes ___ No ___

The funds will not be available for any use other than actual roadwork, and cannot be transferred to any other budget areas, including personnel.

If approved, Anderson County will, for the first tme in history, have adequate funding to properly maintain roads and bridges, with the tax generating an estimated $33 million annually.

If the referendum fails, Anderson County will be unable to provide adequate maintenance of roads and bridges, and the county will fall behind the rest of the state in infrastructure. It will also create potential safety issues and greater costs of operating a vehicle for those who live and work here.

Anderson County has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the state. Wages are up, with 1,500 new jobs added in 2023 and more on the way. The county has more international investment than any other in South Carolina, with more than 52 companies representing 23 nations calling Anderson home.

Arthrex, TTI, Bosch and Michelin, have kept Anderson at the forefront in economic development, in spite of our roads. But quality of life and other issues, which are crucial to economic development, include such things as maintenance of our transportation pathways.

Anderson cannot afford to forever allow our roads funding to lag, struggle, and play catch up just to patch and repair roads and still expect outside investment to continue to grow, especially when neighboring counties are giving attention and financial support to roads.

Third reading on the ordinance is Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. in the historic courthouse, and the public is invited, but you can contact your council representative anytime here.

A local citizen-led group, “Fix Anderson Roads” is also being formed to educate and advocate approving the November referendum. This story will continue to be followed closely by the Anderson Observer.